The computer age begins....

It's been a busy few weeks out at the Ishahayi beach school recently. In addition to Mas and Desi coming out and helping the kids learn about sanitation and malaria, we've managed to get enough money together to put a small pump and tank system on the new well. Surprisingly, it is actually cheaper to install a small electric pump run off a generator than one of the old school hand pumps that you often see around here. This means that there will be actual running water in the toilet block and a tap for all the locals to get access to decent drinking water - good news all round.

The main reason for so much activity out at Ishahayi, though, is the new computer room!! Now, it might sound strange that there's a computer in a village that has no mains power, telephone, running water (soon to be remedied) or sewerage infrastructure, but hey computer's are taking over the planet - even in the middle of nowhere. I was intrigued last year at a local high school during exam time they had all the subjects written up on the board - two of them being computer studies and typing. I was surprised by this as I knew the area had no power (even though power lines had been built years ago they weren't connected to anything so they were just being used as clothes lines) and the school had no generator. The Principal's reply was " oh no, we don't do those subject's here... but schools in Lagos must study this somewhere so there is an exam for it. That is why it is marked on the board" I guess he just assumed that he'd never have a computer or typewriter and if the kids really wanted to go on to uni they'd work it out somehow - there plenty of "business centres" around where you can use a computer and print out things you might need. They're quite ingenious little places with a small desk, computer etc normally inside a small shipping container that can be locked for security when the markets close a night. Interestingly the cost of using the facilities comes at two rates: a low rate for when there is "light" (ie the mains power is working) and a higher rate for "no light" (ie when the power's down and you run off a generator - which unfortunately is normally the case)

Anyway, I digress. A number of families in the Lagos expat community (thank you to the Edwards, O,neals, Bartons and Dinnicks) have kindly donated computers and bits and pieces to the Ishahayi beach School, and after a couple of months of trying to get it to all work together off the small gennie out there - we have success!! Our first typing lesson

generator shack ...................... school bldg

Gary, the trusty little gennie
(he runs the church on Sundays too, busy guy)

everyone was rather excited

As most of the kids had never seen (let alone used) a computer the room always gets really crowded so we decided to get a little fan to make sure it doesn't get too hot (a rare luxury)

As the kids had no experience with a computer, the biggest learning hurdle is trying to use a keyboard and mouse. It is natural behaviour to keep your finger pressed down on a key if you want type something (if you've never used a type writer or anything). Thus, the first few attempts on the computer ended up with lots of lines of one letter and a few crashes. I figured it was easier to give them an old keyboard that isn't connected to anything (so it can't do any damage) to test drive and get a feel for how it all works... seems to be going well.

Lady Salami, the principal, came up to me after I'd been showing the teachers how to fire the thing up and start a few things (quite difficult when the English language that has been generated to define computer terms like "click" and "drag" etc has no meaning to them...). She'd been talking to people about computers and had a question for me -

"can I browse?" she asked
"browse?"
"Yes, browse"
"what do you mean browse" - I had no idea what she was talking about
"Can I browse with the computer?"
I was at a complete loss.
"I want to be able to browse on this computer, can I do that?"
"browse?"
"yes, (long pause searching for words)on the Internet!"
"Oh, browse" I felt like an idiot...

Unfortunately I had to tell her that the computer needs to be connected to the Internet via a phone line and there are no phone lines within 15km of Ishahayi and there probably never will be, so unfortunately there wouldn't be any "browsing"...

I'll bet that in a year or two, there'll be a mobile phone tower in the neighbourhood that can hook them straight to the web - bypassing all the crap we had to go thorough over the years of slow dial-up, then broadband and now wireless - they'll jump straight to the chase..

Ikaare School Building

While it's all go go go down the creek at Ishahayi, things are starting to get going at the Ikaare Junior Grammar School as well. IBSF has managed to get some funding together to start constructing the new school building (you can get a full 8m x 24m three classroom building for just under $14,000 AUD here - bargain)

The old building built in the 80's was completely useless
so we had to knock all that down and start again

It also turned out that half the foundations had never been built
(probably why it fell down in the first place)
so we had to rebuild all that too

now, after three weeks, we're starting to get somewhere
- hopefully it'll be done before the wet season really starts...

Back to School !

Many thanks and good Karma must go to Desiree and Maslina for coming out to ishahayi and giving a lecture on Malaria and sanitation to the student's and teachers. We'd been planning this for ages, and I must confess most of the posters and teaching materials had been sitting in my office at home gather dust for a little too long (sorry-o to Desi and Mas).

Desi had been busy at the health unit of the American embassy (when she's not trying to buy a house back in Canada and have a baby!!) So literally 5 days before she flys home to settle down and bring a new little Quinn into the world, we're all out at the beach in the heat and humidity - talking to the kids to give them a few basics so they're not always sick all the time...

A great job was done by team Desi & Lady Salami, including a couple of musical numbers and Mas had managed to get some insecticide treated mozzie nets for the teachers off a contact of hers as well as a bunch of posters etc. I must say, that despite all their good will - actually getting anything (even just a picture or poster or something) from aid organisations like USAID and the WHO is like pulling teeth - really slowly

We used the church building (originally built by IBSF as the first school) and it was packed

Literally packed !! (next time we'll get a few parents involved too)

Desi and lady Salami getting the kids to read the posters

The all singing all dancing "this is the way we wash our hands" duo - coming to a theatre near you

Whilst poor sanitary conditions spread plenty of disease and keep the kids from school quite regularly - Malaria is a big problem. The isolation of the community really doesn't help when it comes to the medical attention so desperately required with disease like malaria. Only a month or so ago, a father of 5 from the village died whilst in a boat on his way to the mainland to get treatment for malaria / typhoid. His kids had to drop out of school to maintain a livelihood for the family... As treatment isn't really an option, we were trying for prevention. We had a few insecticide treated nets that pretty much fit a whole family and showed everyone how to use them. Unfortunately we only had a few at the time, but we're hoping to raise some cash to get enough for all the families of the kids at the school (70 or 80 nets) - at only $10 each this will make a massive difference out here. So again - HUGE thanks to Mas and Desi for all their time and effort - particularly in light of all the stuff each of them is going through at the moment.

Finally, Lady salami asked all the children to put up their hand if they wanted to be like Mrs Quinn (Desi). There was a resounding "yeah" and plenty of hands - despite none of them knowing what she does. When they found out she was a Nurse, everyone still wanted to be a nurse, even some of the boys! But when asked if boys can be nurses, all the kids screamed a big "Nooo!!" -I guess it takes time for thing s to change. Desi kindly pointed out that men can be nurses too if they want, and with a final cheer and clap for Desi to give birth to healthy twins!!(sign of good luck around here) we headed back to Lagos - Desi happy to know that she won't have to deal with twins - one's enough first time round, right?

Capetown is lekker, man!

[this'll make more sense if you read it in a South African accent (you know, the whole "diplomatic immunity" bit...)]

Capetown is seriously lekker, brah. We had a jawl. Everyone keeps asking us what we got up to in South Africa - as there's actually heaps to do - regardless we spent a large amount of time lying around on the balcony of the house we'd rented BBQing lamb on the braai and sampling the local dop... Attempts were made to go shark diving and do exciting stuff, but if never panned out. Instead a great week of grazing and enjoying a really sweet part of the planet. Seriously, you may as well be on the Northern beaches of Sydney - just a hell of a lot cheaper!! - it ain't Africa, not by a long way...

For an actual description of what we did (and ate!!) Mas has been kind enough to save our lazy bums with her blog here. There's a couple of videos as well - inc a pretty cool one of a cooper banging away at a barrel that we saw on a tour of a brandy distillery - yeah we know, it was a tough holiday...

Anyway, we do have a few pics to share...

One good thing about Africa, there's always awesome stuff to look at out the window of the plane...


straight off the plane and into the nearest cafe...




(l-r) John, Rob, Rachel, George, Sarah, Maslina

enjoying a couple of "man cans" on the balcony

Cooking lamb on the braai

We went for a drive down to Cape Point to have a look at the National park. Unfortunately there was a strange thick fog that covered the mountains. Only in the hills though, then it would disappear. Made for great effect as it swept over the hills and then disappeared in the ocean below.




made for interesting driving

and you couldn't see much at the light house at the Cape...

On the way back we stopped at Simonstown where the local penguins have integrated themselves into the locals lives. Everyday, they come home from a day at sea and just wander across the beaches through peoples games of beach cricket!! Apparently they like shiny things and will sometimes nick off with your wallet...



Sunset over Hout Bay

A cool building in Capetown that warranted a photo (can't remember what they sell though..)

A few quite ones down by the waterfront. Seriously this place could be Sydney - very darling harbour

One day we headed out to Stellenbosch to sample the local vino. Very good stuff. Why we were tasting Brandy at 10:00 in the morning is anyone's guess..

The cable car up to the top of table mountain which overlooks Capetown. Some smart idiot thought that it would be a great idea to make the gondola floor spin around as you go up. Great in principle so that you can see the whole view, not so great when your moving vertically at a great pace and end up feeling like you're inside a washing machine with 30 other people...

Once on top of table mountain, the whole place is dead flat (hence the name i guess) rather strange feeling though - completely different planet to coastal Capetown.

what's a dassie you ask? Well, it's a fat, lazy little fella that kinda looks like a cross between a small wombat and a meer cat with a few other things thrown in for good measure (apparently they're related to elephants - seriously, go figure). Anyway, according to one site these little guys "spend very little time moving around to conserve energy. They also allow their body temperature to drop by up to three degrees centigrade to save metabolic energy. They then spends lots of time basking in the sun to warm up again." lazy little buggers... But, if you feed them after midnight... well, that's a whole other story. Either way, they were too lazy to come out for a photo op, so you'll just have to use your imagination.

Capetown for Easter!!

We've just come back from 8 days in sunny Capetown down in South Africa - really good, and we mean really good.



In fact so good that it might take a week or two to get you all some pics etc. Please bear with us...



here's one little pikky though... (just click on it for full size)

Happy Easter All!!

Hope it was a good one!!